The story of Cressida Smith
by sandstorm99
Summary: Cressida Smith starts out in a regular school. But then one day her life is changed. She sees the Greek myths come to life before her eyes. Later, she comes to Camp Half-Blood, and meets the legendary Percy and Annabeth. Together, they continue on a journey.
1. Chapter 1

**The story of Cressida Smith**

**Chapter 1:**

It all started one dark morning, the clouds were dark and sinister, and heavy raindrops pounded on the ground.

Cressida Smith was walking on her way to Lancelot Academy of Arts and Studies. Her eyes were focused on the ground, head low, as she quietly hurried along.

Just as she was reaching the door, a boom of thunder so loud it sent ringing through Cressida's ears. Blinding heat sent the hairs on her arm shoot straight up, and a strange feeling swept through her skinny body.

It was like.. like.. it was certainly very strange. It felt as though her outer side exposed to the air was burning like lava. But inside it was a cool frost on a winter night. Her heart had abnormal pacing, and her eyes flickered around in panic.

Before any more could happen, she slipped inside the school and ran toward class. Immediately, the feeling vanished, and she comforted herself saying that she imagined the whole thing.

Just as the final bell rang, she slipped into her chair, pulling down her hood.

When her best friend, Alissa, looked at her, she saw an 11 year old girl who wanted to shut off the world. With her skinny body frame, and darting eyes, you'd expect her to be a real weakling. But somehow Alissa knew that that wasn't the case, she knew that her friend had went through something, although Cressida never said what. With her bronze ringlets hanging to her waist, and baby blue eyes, she could be a model. Except Cressida hated attention and always wants to be alone.

Alissa slipped Cressida a note. What's wrong?

Cressida quickly read the note, then crumbled it up and dropped it in the trash. She shook her head, saying she didn't want to talk about it.

"Teacher, may I please be excused?" Cressida's soft voice interrupted as he droned on and on about fractions.

gave her a disapproving look, he expected all his students to be attentive and listen. "Very well, just this once, Cressida."

Cressida secretly sneaked her camouflage sack with all her special belongings out the door with her. She suspected something was going to happen. It wasn't the thunder this morning, or the feeling that ran through her body. For days now, she's been having this terrible sensation that one wrong move and something would change her life. Little did she know.

Her feet moved soundlessly as she went out the recess doors. She drew her hood over her head, and yanked on the strings to tighten it. She sat down and leaned against the school building, away from sight if anyone happened to walk past in the school hallways.

Footsteps approached her, and she whipped around in fright. What was it?

Soon, she found her answer. It was Klark, the school freak. He had a bad acne problem and a rash on his arm. Small little hairs started to form on his chin, and he never went anywhere without that pathetic New York Giants hat that was so worn and battered, you could see the fabric falling off.

"Quick! You have to leave! Now!" His voice was terrified and his nose twitched with fright.

I'll admit, I was really thinking of doing it already. But this crazy kid comes up and tells me to do exactly what I was thinking? That was just strange. "Why should I?"

Klark gasped, breathing heavily. "No chance! Tell you later! Get in that car!" He motioned toward a gray small car. "Hurry!" Grabbing my arm, he hauled her toward the car.

Cressida jerked her arm out of his grasp, and wiped it off. "Uh! Fine! I'm coming! Just keep your germ infested hands to yourself."

They both tumbled into the car, and it started right away.

Cressida took a quick survey of the car. There was a man in a dark suit driving the car, and his face was covered with sunglasses. Klark was rubbing his hands together and jerking constantly. Her own self was crouched in a huddle as she looked around.

Klark suddenly yelled a short, ear-piercing sound. "Stop stop stop! This is the wrong car!" His head was turned to face behind the car. There was a silver car with a man waving frantically, holding up a symbol Cressida couldn't tell.

The man in the front laughed, wickedly. "Ha! Trapped, are you now?" Klark worked frantically at the door lock, but it wouldn't budge. "You're trapped in here, until I say you can leave. Which will be your dead bodies going to the flames!"

Cressida was breathing hard and her heartbeat sped up once again. "What do you want? Who are you?"

That sinister man cackled, then in a swift motion, broke all of the clothes he was wearing. In his place, was a monster. Eh! It was a dark brown dog, with two heads! For a moment she wondered if it was that myth Cerberus, then realized it wasn't. Cerberus had three heads, and this creature had a serpent tail!

Klark kicked off his shoes and revealed a pair of goat feet. "You'll have to deal with me, Orthrus!"

Realization dawned in Cressida's eyes. The name sparked a light in her mind. There was a guest speaker with a beard in a wheelchair that came to speak to them. She didn't exactly pay close attention to it, but a few names stuck in her head. Plus, the man's fuzzy woolen sweatshirt had mythological creatures stitched onto it. She was just about to say something, but Orthrus beat her to it.

"Now, dear satyr and demigod. It is your time.. to die!"


	2. Chapter 2

**The story of Cressida Smith**

**Chapter 2**

Cressida Smith looked at Orthrus, her eyes wide. How was it possible? It was a myth! It wasn't real! Those were just made up stories to tell how things were made, and other stuff like that. "You're fake!" She screamed.

Orthrus hated being called a myth, or a fake, and he immediately started heating up with anger. "No, I'm real, you demigod! I'm real, I'm not a myth!"

Cressida tried to buy herself some time, but it was running out quickly. "What's a demigod?" She asked dumbly.

"One parent is a Greek god, the other is a mortal human." The dog serpent replied, baring it's teeth, ready for action.

Cressida took a deep breath, and she started thinking rapidly. 'Whoever my godly parent is, if you could help me out, I'll love you forever.' That sounded slightly stupid in her mind, and cheesy in a way. 'Please, just save me.' she added.

Almost immediately after, a charm bracelet dropped into her lap. There were 5 charms in total. Each had a word Cressida couldn't understand, but she knew this thing glowed power, because Orthrus flinched when it appeared.

The monster tore the whole car apart, and leaped at her with wide claws. Cressida turned a charm and threw it at the double headed dog.

She heard a growl of pain, and saw one of it's paws bleeding heavily. But it was still alive. Her eyes searched anywhere for a weapon, and the charm bracelet was back in her hands in a flash.

Quickly, she took a bronze colored charm, twisted it, and slashed in a big ark as Orthrus charged again. Cressida held her breath..

Then Orthrus disintegrated into dust. All that was left, was a sharp tooth from the Greek myth's mouth.

Klark climbed out of the car, and smiled weakly. "It's all that's left of the monster for a few years, hopefully. You can keep it as a souvenir." The satyr sounded worn out. "Come on, let's head to Camp Half-Blood."

They stole a local motorcycle on the side rode, and drove to Camp Half-Blood with the goat human driving.

Neither said anything during the whole car ride, until Klark parked the car in front of a bunch of strawberry fields. "Come on, we're here."

Cressida cast a glance back over her shoulder, and thought she saw a whoosh of a black wing. She whipped around and sprinted until she passed a gigantic tree, then paused for a deep breath. Klark was right behind her.

"I didn't know they wanted you dead so badly. Usually Orthrus never comes out to fight. Even Percy Jackson only got a minotaur sent after him!"

Of course, Cressida was clueless. "Who's Percy Jackson?"

The satyr gasped. "Only one of the most powerful demigods in our time!" He straightened his battered hat. "In fact, I can show you to him!"

Cressida shook her head. "I rather not be caught hanging out with.. YOU." It was rather harsh, but she really meant it.

Klark was about to say something, but a teenage girl rode up on a pegasus. "Hey, who's this? A new demi-god? I'm Annabelle Chase, nice to see you here." A tall girl with blond hair and gray eyes greeted her. She had on an orange t-shirt, that said Camp Half-Blood.

Cressida hesitantly smiled. "I'm Cressida Smith." She wondered how she looked. Tattered? Messy? Like she just got run over?

Annabelle jumped off the pegasus and walked next to Cressida. "So what happened?"

Cressida bit her lip. "Well I was walking to school, and I got this weird feeling. Then I went back inside, and came back outside feeling I needed to do something. Then Klark ran up and started screaming, and we ran into a car. Then it turns out it was the wrong car, and there was an evil monster named Orthrus or something that wanted to kill us. Then I killed it and got a tooth." She said quickly, not wanting to think much about what had happened.

Annabelle looked her over. "And you're okay?" She asked.

"For the most part, yeah." Cressida replied.

"Okay, I'll take you to meet Chiron, our camp counselor. He's a centaur, by the way." Annabelle said, jogging up to a house.

When the entered, she recognized the face in the wheelchair. "Hey, you came to my class once!" She said, surprised.

The kind face turned to look at her. "Ah yes, Cressida Smith. I had a feeling you were something special. I wished to see you in person, and I sent Klark after you." He replied, smoothing out his beard.

"I assume it was a hard day?" Chiron asked.

"You bet it was!" She replied, sighing.

"Well how about Annabelle goes to show you around, and we can introduce you later." The centaur said, giving her another smile and turned back to his scroll.

As Cressida walked out, she wondered out loud to Annabelle. "He seems distracted.. is he okay? Is something bad going on?"

Annabelle looked at her, then sighed. "Recently, Chiron has received a message from the gods. He won't tell me what, but it's important. Extremely important."

Cressida and Annabelle walked into a row of cabins. "For now, you'll stay with Hermes. That cabin takes in all new comers, Hermes doesn't exactly care."

When Cressida walked inside the cabin, there were unmade beds, backpacks everywhere, and kids having fun. She gazed. This is where she would be staying?"

"Just until your godly parent claims you, you'll be staying here." Annabelle said, as if reading her mind.

Cressida nodded, then followed her out the crowded, noisy cabin. "Over there is the archery range, Chiron usually teaches that." She nodded to their right. "And over there is the strawberry fields where they tend to the plants and sell them." As they walked along, Cressida noticed more and more teenagers all gathered here. "And that's the stables.."

"Annabelle, how come there are so many kids here?" She asked, butting in before Annabelle could say another word.

Annabelle hesitated. "Well the gods tend to have children with a lot of different mortals.. whoever they fancy." She finally replied.

"Who's your parent?"

"Athena. Goddess of wisdom." Annabelle replied.

"Who's my parent?"

"We don't know until your parent sends a sign."

"I see. Continue on the tour then." Cressida said, a little dissapointed.

"Well that's the dining pavilion, where we'll be eating in a little. There's the lake, the arena, the showers, the kitchens, and then there's the house where we always meet up for meetings, and then there's the forest."

"The forest?"

"We go there for games like capture the flag, or to bring in a beast to eliminate, and such." Annabelle replied.

"Are we going to do anything today?" Cressida asked.

"Probably. It's been a few days already, so Chiron must know we're getting edgy." The older counselor replied.

Cressida stared at Camp Half-Blood. It seemed like a nice place.. it seemed fun. It seemed like they would care about her. It seemed so. But not everything that seems is real.

Annabelle and Cressida stood on top of a hill that overlooked the whole entire camp. Annabelle breathed in the fresh air, and said to Cressida..

"Well that's Camp Half-Blood, your new home."


	3. Chapter 3

**The story of Cressida Smith**

**Chapter 3**

Cressida Smith carefully walked back into the Hermes cabin, gazing at the posters stuck on walls, and gum stuck on the beds.

She cleared her throat. "Excuse me, which bed do I stay in?"

A tall athletic dude walked up to her. "Hey there, you can stay in that spot on the floor. We set up a sleeping bag and left you a bunch of toiletries."

Cressida glanced at the spot with critical eyes but quickly hid it and smiled sweetly. "Yes, of course. Thank you so much! You don't know how much this means to me." Maybe it was overdoing it, but Cressida had that snotty girl personality, and it just kicked right in.

The Hermes kid looked at her up and down, then shrugged and went to his own bed. BED! Not a sleeping bag on the floor, he had a bed! With a real mattress and pillow. People expected her to be happy like this?

A small little girl with dimples and bronze hair and amber eyes looked at her and smiled sweetly. "I'm Lilac." She looked to be about 5 years old, and a real adorable one! "Who are you?" Her big amber eyes blinked up at Cressida, and she couldn't help but smile back.

"Hi Lilac! I'm Cressida." She replied, her baby blue eyes twinkling. Maybe this little girl would lighten up her day!

Lilac looked at her with a confused expression. "Cweffida?" She shook her head. "What about Cress? That easy to remember!" Her grammar wasn't right, but it was cute!

Cressida shrugged. "Sure, why not? Can I call you Lil?"

Lil looked at her. "Sure, Cress!" Then they shared this gigantic grin that sent them both lighting up from ear to ear.

Suddenly, a loud horn sounded. The athletic dude looked at them and said impatiently. "Look, I don't have all day, let's go kiddos!" He marched out the cabin, and the rest of the cabin followed suit.

Lilac whispered. "Luke can be gwumpy sometimes, but he's fun on a good day!" The name Luke somehow sounded familiar, although Cressida wasn't sure where it was from.

As if reading her mind, another camper, about 14, told her in a hushed voice. "Before there was an extremely powerful person named Luke, and he hosted the body of the Titan lord of time. In the end, he was a hero and killed the titan from gaining total control and destroying Olympus forever. He used to be called Kevin, but he changed his name to Luke. I'm not sure if it's because he wants to honor him, or just wants to sound cool and be the name of the hero."

They all filed into the dining pavillion.

"Welcome, demigods and satyrs! Today, I would like to introduce a new camper. Let me present, Cressida Smith!"

Roaring applause thundered through Cressida's ears, and she smiled and waved at the cheering kids.

"Now, let us have a toast to the gods!" Everybody raised their glasses and clunked with each other.

Lilac whispered. "Just say what you want, it appears!"

Cressida hesitantly tried it out. "Pink Lemonade?" In response, her cup filled with pink lemonade, topped off with a straw and ice cubes and a little mini umbrella.

Everyone started standing up, and bringing their plates over to the fireplace. Offerings. Every person scraped the best part of their meal into the flames, and murmured a few words, then continued on to eat their dinner.

When it was Cressida's turn, she scraped off the most juiciest fruit and caught a whiff of the smell. It was like hot chocolate, cake, brownies, everything you could ever want! Quietly, she said a few words. "Whoever my parent is, thank you for saving me, and please claim me soon."

She continued on to her chair, and sat down and started eating. She hadn't realized how hungry she was, and soon she was done every crumb, but stuffed like a turkey.

Chiron stamped his hoof on the floor. "Campers, campers! We have a challenge today! There are 10 triple headed dogs out there. Although they are not like Cerberus, they are still very dangerous. Underneath 1 of those dogs, is a small red package. You will only be able to take it off when the creature is dead. Inside the package is a golden piece of cloth, and you bring it to your cabin, for you are in the lead! Each team gets three people, report back here when you hear the horn blow."

Soon the teams were split up. Cressida, Lilac, and Percy Jackson were in a team.

Percy joked. "So I'm with the ladies, huh? Nice to meet you Cressida.. ever get your teddy bear back, Lilac?"

Lilac turned a lovely shade of lilac. "Hey! You promised you'd neva say to anyonnne!"

Percy laughed. "How about, you girls distract it, while I kill it? That way we all get to do what we're good at." Cressida wasn't sure to either laugh, or roll her eyes at him. So she did both.

"GO!" Chiron yelled, and the trio burst off into the woods. Nearly immediately, they could hear a scream as one group encountered a dog.

Soon, snuffling noises, and crunching leaves entered their eardrums. A dog, definitely. By the sound of it, a rather large one!

Percy drew his sword, and snarled menacingly at the beast with 3 heads. Lilac climbed up a tree, and started pelting nuts from the angry squirrel home at the beat. Sadly, those nuts just bounced off and were like bugs to the mutt. Cressida wasn't sure what to do, join the fighting? Or go somewhere safe like Lilac?

In her confusion, she was frozen in terror. Naturally, the monster would be drawn to her. 'Such a tasty morsel' It thought, 'A lovely dinner for a lovely day.'

Percy slashed down on the monster with all his might, and it only made a gash in it's hide. "I remember! It's most easily killed by silver. Now, is there a silver weapon anywhere?" He was helplessly talking and defending himself at the same time.

Cressida realized that she had to help, otherwise they might be wounded severely, or killed. Her charm! Of course. Quickly, she took out her charm bracelet and fumbled for the right one. At last, she twisted the silver one, and a silver bow and sheath of arrows lay at her hands. Quickly, the young girl slung the sheath over her shoulder, grabbed an arrow and aimed it at the beast.

Percy caught a glimpse of Cressida, and wondered if he saw it wrong. She was with a bow and arrow. But nah, that's not right. Cressida was those hot beach girls, not a warrior.

The arrow whistled past Percy's ears and hit the monster straight in the chest. It collapsed, in a heap. Lilac jumped from the tree's lowest branch, and landed with a thud on the dirt. She dusted herself off, and skipped over. "Dead doggie!"

Cressida was gazing at her hands in awe and new wonder. Had she killed an animal? Was she the hero?

Percy slapped Cressida on the back. "Hey, nice going. Saved my hind back there. How bout you do the honors of checking the bag?"

With a hesitant step of approaching such a wild creature, Cressida headed toward the monster. She dropped to her knees, and with a jerked motion, touched the big animal.

"Are you kidding? You kill it, but you won't touch it? Girls." Percy rolled his eyes, clearly amused and smiling at the same time.

Cressida was caught in a trance for a moment. With that wind-blown hair falling in his sea green eyes.. and that athletic and skilled body. He was the type of guy she'd be dreaming for at home.

Percy saw her look of total yearning, and turned away. Sure she was pretty, but he had Annabeth. So why was she making him feel so edgy?

Cressida turned and gritted her teeth, rolling the dog to it's back, with it's stomach exposed to the sky.

Her fingers fumbled with the strings, but she untied it, and pulled out a gleaming gold cloth. She was speechless. Lilac and Percy were cheering in delight. But then Percy stopped.

"Wait a minute, that means.. Hermes won?! Aw man!"

But that didn't matter, Cressida, Percy and Lilac headed for the pavilion. Pride sparked from each of them, and it was clear when they arrived last that they had gotten the prize. Wow, it sure took a long time for them to hunt one animal!

"Congratulations. I present the winners, Percy, Lilac, and Cressida! The Poseidon cabin is now in the lead!" Announced Chiron.

Percy Jackson stepped forward. "Wait, it wasn't I that killed it, it was Cressida. Hermes is the rightful winner of the game."

Chiron had a look of surprise on his face. "The newcomer wins! I expect more from you, Percy." He had his famous look of disapproval on his face, and Percy squirmed, making all the campers laugh.

Cressida stood up. "I just would like to say, I could have never done it without my friends. Together we defeated it. I would like to hope that this has made my Olympian god proud of me, and I shall continue to do so." At her words, a roar of applause broke out.

Suddenly, the clapping stopped. All voices were silent. They were staring at a blazing sign above Cressida's head. It was a silver bow and arrow. This has never happened before. It was impossible.

Her Olympian parent was Artemis, goddess of the hunt and moon, sworn never to marry.


End file.
